what: World Links is a global learning network linking thousands of students and teachers around the world via the Internet for collaborative projects and the integration of technology into learning. Its training program has been designed to help teachers and students learn to use information and communication technologies (particularly the Internet) to improve teaching and learning. The mission of World Links is to improve educational results, economic opportunities and global understanding for youth in developing countries through the use of technology and the Internet.

a success story: World Links began in mid-1997 as an initiative of James D. Wolfensohn, President of the World Bank, to help bring the developing world into the information age through its future leaders - students - and to build cultural awareness among them in the face of an ever more global economy and society. Since then, the program has expanded to over 20 developing countries (Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Paraguay, Peru, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Gambia, Senegal, Ghana, Mauritania, Mozambique, South Africa, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Turkey, West Bank/Gaza, India, the Philippines). Currently, approximately 200,000 students and teachers in these countries are collaborating over the Internet with partners in 22 industrialised countries on projects in all disciplines. Today, World Links is globally recognised as one of the most innovative and successful education programs assisting developing countries in bridging the ‘digital divide’.

results: a high percentage of World Links-connected school programs remain up and running. This success rate is attributable to the organisation's strategic approach involving ministries of education, schools, parents and private sector partners at every stage of its projects. World Links followed this approach in Senegal and expanded the initial 12-school pilot to 40 schools. Positive evaluation feedback and strong community support, along with general consensus about the downstream economic impacts of technology in education, have convinced the government to introduce World Links in all 300 Senegalese secondary schools.

activities: World Links provides a set of educational technology-related services specifically geared towards ministries of education, non-governmental organisations and international development agencies working in developing countries. These services range from basic school connectivity solutions to teacher professional development, and training programs for both policy-makers and local communities interested in launching educational technology initiatives. Among its activities:

• conversion of school computer labs into community learning centres (telecentres), to share the benefits of school-based computer labs with surrounding communities, while generating a recurring stream of revenue to ensure the self-sustainability of the labs. This model envisions the use of schools' computer facilities during school hours by teachers and students, and by community members/associations during non-school hours. The dual-use School-Based Telecentre (SBT) model is being successfully implemented in over 100 World Links sites around the world, and has repeatedly strengthened school-community relations.



• World Links, together with the World Bank Institute (WBI), has developed a five-day Policymakers Workshop to collaborate with government leaders on the development of strategies for the integration of ICT for educational purposes.